Monday, January 21, 2013

pro bono


it's an unspoken law  rule understanding amongst doctors that we do not charge fees on our colleagues who come under our care.

this includes colleagues we don't even know personally, eg. those from private clinics or govt hospitals. however, if they have insurance cover for their hospitalisation, then we charge as we would for anyone else.

today, the lunar new year has come early for me. a colleague from the govt hospital who had a procedure done last week, returned with a little gift.
believe me, when i say it touched me right to the core. no doubt, it's a small token but it just showed that this colleague, a houseman, has put himself in my shoes - no surgical procedure comes without risks.

i've mentioned to other colleagues that we all in private practice ought to have our own medical insurance. no doubt the hospital provide an allowance as benefit-in-kind & we don't charge fees on each other, but i don't think it's fair to carry major surgery & see out a stormy recovery in the ICU, & not be adequately remunerated for the hard labour.

and, it's not that the insurance premiums are beyond our means.

it's all about giving & taking.

5 comments:

MiChi said...

This is something new to me, that no charges for doctor who needs to go through treatment under other doctors.

Yes, I agree with you... for all the hard work...!

Happy CNY to you!

doc said...

hi MiChi,

it's an unspoken understanding i only found out after joining private practice.

have a good lunar new year!

Small Kucing said...

I didnt know that doctor doesn't charge doctors. Hmm how about medication?

doc said...

S.Kucing,

if it's one-off, usually no charge. if repeated doses required, eg. hypertension, diabetes, can purchase personally from pharmacy.

Yvonne Foong said...

I understand your sentiment. :)